1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to wireless mesh networks and, more particularly, to providing enhanced transmission routes within a wireless mesh network.
2. Related Art
The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
In recent years, the use of wireless mesh networks has increased in order to improve the range of wireless communications while reducing power consumption. Wireless mesh networks typically include a plurality of wireless mesh nodes that communicate with one another to route data. For example, in wireless multi-hop mesh networks, data is propagated from a source mesh node, or an originating mesh node, to a destination mesh node by “hopping” from one mesh node to another until the data reaches the destination mesh node. As such, each mesh node within a wireless mesh network operates as both a receiver and transmitter to communicate data between intervening mesh nodes within a given route.
When a source node desires to transmit data to a destination node, the source node utilizes a route discovery mechanism to “discover” or establish a route to the destination node. A route between the source node and the destination node is selected in an effort to minimize the associated cost of the route. In wireless mesh networks, factors considered in a cost of route determination include, but are not limited to, path length, hop count, latency, and/or throughput. The selected route is then utilized for the data transmission from the particular source node to the particular destination node until the route is refreshed (i.e., until a subsequent route determination operation is performed). This determination of the selected route may reduce the performance of wireless mesh networks. Therefore, a need exists to improve the determination of the route for a wireless mesh network.